This comes even as a federal judge recently ruled the law was
constitutional.

The law, which makes it illegal for absentee voters to allow
others to collect their completed absentee ballots and submit
them to election officials on the voters' behalf, was enacted in
2016. Under the law, if a person gets caught taking other
people’s completed ballots to the polls for them, he or she
could face felony charges.

The Arizona Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee
sued the state and Maricopa County over the law. But it was
upheld May 8 after U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes ruled the
groups failed to show that the Arizona legislature passed the
law with the intent of suppressing minority voters.

Democrats have vowed to continue their legal fight.

“I respect the court’s decision but I don’t agree with it and
that’s why,” said State Rep. Richard Andrade, D-Glendale about
why the ruling was still being challenged. “It’s something that
really impacts certain people.”

Andrade said the law disenfranchises those who live in remote
areas, working-class families, minorities and those with
disabilities because they have a tough time getting to a post
office.

“You have your family to take care of and make sure you put food
on the table and everything, they’re not going to miss a day out
of work—or they might not be able to get away from their job to
even stop by the county elections to drop off that ballot
because they just don’t have that luxury,” Andrade said. “We are
taking that luxury away from people and punishing them by
saying, ‘Hey, your vote doesn’t matter.’”

Republicans argue the law is necessary to prevent voter fraud.
State Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, who sponsored the
bill, said she was pleased the court upheld the law. She said
ballot harvesting is ripe for abuse – and could disenfranchise
legitimate voters.

“Think about it. It’s election season and you’ve taken upon
yourself to perhaps knock on someone’s door or multiple doors
and collect their ballot with, I’m assuming, the intent to turn
the ballot into the ballot box,” Ugenti-Rita said. “But, in the
event that doesn’t happen, regardless of why it doesn’t happen,
you can see it that that has (an) impact on…that person’s ballot
to the election box. But, then also on the outcome. So, it’s not
a practice that really has enough benefit to justify continuing
to have it. So, that’s why I sponsored the bill and the court
agreed that it was within our statutory and constitutional
authority.”

Michelle Ugenti-Rita
@MichelleUgenti
Great News, my bill, HB2023 is upheld!! Yesterday District
Court Judge Douglas Rayes issued his decision in the Feldman v.
Arizona ballot harvesting case, and he ruled in favor of the
state and against the plaintiffs on all claims.

2:22 PM - May 9, 2018
21
See Michelle Ugenti-Rita's other Tweets

Voter fraud has become a national issue that has pitted
Republicans against Democrats. Republicans, in an attempt to
prevent voter fraud, have pushed for stringent ID and ballot
harvesting laws as Democrats have argued those efforts are a
veiled attempt to strip away minority voting power.

Donald J. Trump
?
@realDonaldTrump
Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the
2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard
that the Commission not see their records or methods because
they know that many people are voting illegally. System is
rigged, must go to Voter I.D.

4:02 AM - Jan 4, 2018
109K
54.9K people are talking about this

“Elections are critical and the outcome of an election is
important and people have to have confidence in the outcome of
an election,” Ugenti-Rita said. “The best way to kind of effect
your government is at the election box. So, election integrity
is something that we have to safeguard. It doesn’t make sense to
allow a practice to exist that has the potential to increase
fraud and undermine the outcome of election or that confidence
in the election process.”

But Andrade points to studies that show voter fraud is not a
widespread issue and has not impacted the outcome of local
elections.

“There was not a case of voter fraud proven (in Arizona), but
yet this proceeded through,” Andrade said.

The issue is critical in Arizona because the state relies
heavily on mail-in voting. According to the Citizens Clean
Elections Commission, about 80 percent of Arizona voters choose
to receive their ballot in the mail.

“There was not a case of voter fraud proven (in Arizona), but
yet this proceeded through."

- State Rep. Richard Andrade, D-Glendale.
The ballot harvesting issue in Arizona came before the U.S.
Supreme Court in 2016 and the court suspended a ruling that
would have temporarily blocked the law while it was making its
way through the courts.

The case is now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
There’s a possibility the appeal could end up in the U.S.
Supreme Court again.